Windsor library postpones review of firearm policy

The Clearview Library District will not make a decision until late next month on whether to allow guns at Windsor-Severance libraries.

Windsor resident Erika Sattler and the pro-gun lobbying group she works for sent a letter to the district Aug. 22 that threatened legal action if the public organization didn’t review and amend its policy on firearms by Thursday. Staff at The Windsor Severance Library branch asked Sattler to leave Aug. 20 after another library patron pointed out that she had a gun.

“To review a policy without due diligence would be a knee-jerk reaction,” Clearview Library District Director Ann Kling said Thursday before the meeting. “It’s out of my control what (Sattler and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners) decide to do.”

The library board hasn’t had enough time to review the incident and needs to research how other library districts handle firearms in their buildings, Kling said. “We’ll do whatever we need to do to be compliant with the laws of Colorado.”

The Windsor-based RMGO plans to follow through with its threat to take legal action against the library because it claims that Sattler’s right to conceal carry was violated when she and her elementary-age children were asked to leave.

The library can ask patrons not to open-carry guns, but under state law it cannot ban the concealed carrying of firearms, Thompson said.

On the library district’s website, the code of conduct states: “The staff should be able to work free from harassment, abuse, discomfort and undue psychological distress. While in the library, please be courteous to others ... . and refrain from carrying weapons of any sort except by law enforcement officers.”

Sattler said she’s “not particularly responsible for how other people feel.”

“I don’t think they’re concerned with how I feel about not being able to protect my children and being asked to leave the library,” Sattler said in front of the Windsor Severance Library before the meeting. “I feel like it’s a responsibility (to carry). The library is not charged with taking care of my children. I am. I’m their parent.”

Sattler and RMGO Executive Director Dudley Brown told the nearly 30 people in attendance at the board meeting that their motives weren’t political. They just want to see the library comply with state law and make the library a place everyone could go.

Four patrons of the library urged the board not to change its stance on weapons citing safety, children and their comfort.

“A lot of people in Windsor respect your policy as it is now,” Windsor resident Susan Carey said. “Please keep some of our public places sacred. Please, library board, continue to be strong, and if at all possible, don’t allow weapons in the library.”